Protective covers for shielding universal joints and drive trains of a vehicle have been previously known and disclosed in several U.S. patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,906,360 Daley, Jr.! shows a torque tube 10 which may be considered to be a noise shielding or deadening device. U.S. Pat. No. 3,797,329 Quirk! discloses a safety shield for use over the drive shaft to interconnect the power take-off assembly of a tractor to a rotary drive of an agricultural implement. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,308,931 Khanna! and 4,568,313 Diffenderfer, et al.! also show protective coverings for an articulated drive shaft between a tractor and a powered agricultural implement. Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,572 Hook! discloses a protective covering assembly for a grease fitting of a universal joint attached to the output shaft of an agricultural or other industrial vehicle, primarily front wheel drive tractors. None of these disclosed devices is particularly well suited for commercial vehicles, such as motor trucks, other "over-the-road" vehicles, such as buses, or "off-road" vehicles.
Motor trucks and buses have extended wheelbases in excess of 16 feet and have drive trains with drive shafts formed of multiple sections that are interconnected by universal joints. Universal joints are flexible joints which couple two drive shaft segments to permit either segment to be positioned out of straight-line alignment with respect to the other and are usually exposed to the environment. Universal joints may be packed with lubricant and sealed for life. Conversely, replacement joints and other universal joints may require lubrication and have grease fittings to accommodate such lubrication.
Universal joints having life time sealing may house high performance bearings and the slightest bit of dirt or other adhering contaminant may deleteriously grind and damage the bearing. Because of their physical location on motor trucks and buses, universal joints are particularly susceptible to being damaged by road grit and water or salt spray created by the motor truck and/or bus moving over wet and dirty road surfaces.
Universal joints not having life time sealing are also susceptible to road grit and water spray and are recommended to always remain fully greased. Further, it is common for universal joints to be lubricated with excessive grease, more particularly, to have grease applied until it oozes out of the universal joint.
Universal joints have separate shielding concerns when located on a vehicle, especially on a motor truck, bus, or off-road truck, that is subject to a high degree of road grit and mud. More particularly, both sealed and unsealed universal joints should be shielded from having dirt, grit and other contaminants finding their way into their high performance bearings so as to preserve mechanical integrity of both the sealed and unsealed universal joints. Conversely, unsealed universal joints should be shielded so that their excessive grease does not find its way onto the body of the vehicle so as to deleteriously affect the physical integrity of the vehicle, that is, have the grease attach to the body of a vehicle so that it allows the accumulation of road salt, or other contaminants that might harm the physical integrity of the vehicle. It is desired that a protective cover assembly be provided to shield and shelter both sealed and unsealed universal joints used on a motor truck, a bus, or an off-road vehicle.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a protective cover assembly that shields both sealed and unsealed universal joints that are used on trucks, buses, and off-road vehicles.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a protective cover assembly for universal joints that interconnect sections of the drive shaft of a vehicle to prevent contamination by materials from the roadway and to catch and retain excessive lubricant from the joints.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide for a protective cover assembly that not only preserves the mechanical integrity of the universal joint, but also helps preserve the physical integrity of the vehicle carrying the universal joints.
Further objects and features of the present invention will become evident hereinafter.